Who loves Al? Hollywood, baby

But GOP rival Bush has his supporting cast

LOS ANGELES (CBS.MW) -- Whom does Hollywood support for president? By and large, it's Vice President Al Gore.

Not a shocker, considering the entertainment community was a highly visible supporter of President Clinton in his last two elections. The studios have been well-known supporters of Democratic candidates for decades.

A new wrinkle exists, though: Both Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush have taken similar stances on curbing violence and objectionable material in films and on television. Members of the Gore camp also have done more to clamp down on Hollywood.

And there's the feeling that maybe some in the entertainment community aren't as supportive of Gore as they were of Clinton. The conservative side of some who think a Republican president would be better for business may be surfacing.

"The entertainment community is not as pro-Democrat as they're made out to be," said David Davis, an analyst for Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin in Los Angeles.

Deregulation would help

Some television programming chiefs have said Bush might be the better choice because he would support deregulation. NBC programming chief Garth Ancier, a staunch Democrat and Gore supporter, has expressed concern Gore will turn the Federal Trade Commission on the industry if it doesn't stop marketing "R"-rated films in prime time.

Still, Bush supporters in the entertainment world are still a minority by far.

"I don't see the industry having an affinity toward Bush," said Joel Kotkin, an author and a senior fellow at Pepperdine University's Davenport Institute for Public Policy.

Activities of mate, running mate

Kotkin pointed out that Gore's wife, Tipper, spoke out in the 1980s against harmful content on records, helping establish warnings on lyrics. Gore running mate Sen. Joseph Lieberman has challenged the industry to a greater extent than Gore has, getting many initiatives to control content off the ground such as V-chip content warnings on televisions.

"Lieberman may be a negative, but he's also Jewish," Kotkin said, adding that a sizable portion of studio executives are Jewish.

Here's what the candidates have said: Gore has called for Hollywood to stop marketing "R"-rated films to minors and is asking TV networks to control violent content on programs. Gore also supports the V-chip initiative.

Call for 'family hour'

Bush calls for many of the same measures but adds that he wants to initiate a family hour on television every night. Bush has said violence and sexual innuendo have become prevalent in prime-time programming.

Both candidates say they don't want to go too far in enforcing such policy, though. Gore cites First Amendment concerns when the subject of too-strict controls arises. Bush says he doesn't support censorship and doesn't want government to be all things to all people.

While Gore doesn't take direct aim at Bush's stance on this issue, Bush counters that Gore is "talking tough" during the day and then mingling with entertainment figures at night.

Will all this bring about a shift in Hollywood's political spectrum? Not likely, analysts say. But there may be a few defectors.

"Bush is less frightening to Hollywood perhaps than if Gary Bauer were the candidate," said Kotkin. "(Gore) has more personalities than Sybil. There are aspects of Gore that make (Hollywood) less enthusiastic."

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